The World of Warcraft Metamorphosis, Part I
By Wrathofautumn
Dreaming has always been one of my favorite past times. When they're especially lucid, they can become part of my greatest tools for inspiration in creating new works. I would never have been able to come up with such an idea like Terrestris Somni without the help of my dreams. The Naiad planet did not become a genuine fantasy until the day I went to bed. I would go to bed as early as eight (Ten at the most), to see what my mind would come up with next, where it would take me. Anything it could do to inspire me as a writer.
Much of my time, however, has been spent playing games overnight. Like an unhealthy addiction, I strained my eyes and mind to play World of Warcraft. It started as a means of socializing with Richard Blackburn (Whom I call Thornbriar or Thorn), my closest local friend and unofficial "bro", but then it became a commitment. I wanted to see the end of the Cataclysm Expansion and officially "beat it". It was more than that, however. Raine Cloud, my very first character, almost felt like a part of me. I couldn't simply just unsubscribe and leave her to collect dust. I admit getting bored around Outlands, but I decided in the end to stick with her.
Don't take this as me neglecting my other duties. Far from it. I was doing fantastic in school, still, even though I was still raising my grades after doing poorly in two courses. I was still getting sleep, even though I had passed from spending time to go to bed as normally. I had become very much nocturnal now, and I hadn't been eating well. I may have gained some weight in the process as well. Not that it matters now, but I will get back to that shortly.
It was in the evening before ten when I finally had a major breakthrough. Raine had finally completed the last quest in Twilight Highlands, and she had at last turned level 85! She was as far as she could get in the leveling process. There was still much to do with her, but that achievement didn't stop me from dancing in triumph. I hollered and boasted to all my roommates, who didn't give a crap and I was celebrating with Thorn over a messaging window.
That was a good place to call it quits, I decided. I remember school coming the very next day, and I had not been fully committed to it as this. Remembering my old duties, I bid Thorn good night and went to bed early as I used to do. My eyes rolled over and I fell to sleep, dreaming once again of water and cats. The usual stuff my dreams were made of, but nothing of significant interest. How very disappointing, my mind had left me, so I continued to let my mind drift to more indistinct imagery, wild and random and forgetful.
Finally, my cellphone signaled me to wake up to what I would soon learn to be the most interesting day of my 26 years on this curious speck in the universe. Blindly, I rolled in my bed, not wanting to wake up so soon. I knew I would have to, though. Today, my class would be discussing fundamentals to functions in C-Sharp programming. How could I miss that for the entire world?
I remember of the sensation of my legs and feet hanging over my bed, but I may have shifted somewhat in my sleep. I was told I snored as well. I did not bother to open my eyes to look, but instead groped blindly for my ringing cell phone. Finally, my hands scratched across the plastic touchscreen. I pressed the side button to stop that annoying racket. Once again the room was silent, save for the fan blowing against my sheets.
That, however, is when I paused. Why did I pause? It was the nature of how my hands had scratched against the phone. The scratching of my fingers, running across the phone's touchscreen, did not feel natural. It was numb and firm, like the palms had mysteriously calloused overnight. While I did have a seasonal job which made use of my body physically, it was not enough to make my hands have the texture of leather. Also, my nails felt longer. They clicked against it audibly, like the resonant tapping of dog claws.
Finally, curious, I opened my eyes to examine my hand. That, however, only led to more questions. The darkened room around me was clear as day. There were no blurs, no multiple copies of the bed, the door knobs, or the flashing digits on my roommate's alarm clock. My eyesight was suddenly acute. It could even see the elongated snout that protruded forward, covering a large part of my vision. I remembered writing about this sensation all the time as a Furry Author. It was strangely much like having a dog's muzzle or something very close.
Suddenly, the adrenaline rushed to me in my shock. I shot up and raised my hands to feel this thing to see if it was real. Oh, merciful god! These were not my hands. They couldn't even be described as such! These four-fingered, padded appendages with claws thick and sharp as small razors were more like the paws of monsters. All the while, it was covered in a dark, shale gray coat of coarse fur. What other changes had happened to me? I realized I needed to see a mirror.
I pulled off the sheets and jumped out of bed, soon understanding why it felt like my legs were over the bed for some reason. I must've grown a foot taller since the night before, most of the height coming from my feet. Looking down at them, they had extended to about twenty inches in size. They were covered with pads on the balls of my feet, having the appearance of three-toed dog paws. Like my hands, they were covered in shale gray fur.
A picture was beginning to form in my mind what I had exactly become, but I still needed something substantial to truly see what I had become. My heart was racing in my chest as I rushed for the door, squatting slightly to get over it before I finally got to the bathroom mirror across the hallway. I yelped in surprise at the sight that I saw, cowering away for a moment like anyone caught by such surprise and anxiety like I had. As it faded and the desire to understand grew, I bravely looked into the mirror and beheld myself.
Who was this wolf woman staring back at me? This elegant, fearsome looking creature with its fixed snarl across its face, the pale, skull-like fur pattern painted across it? Its hands ran through its dark, shaggy mane as I did, fiddling with the braid of hair that hung just along her collar bone. They continued downward, feeling its—no, mine—c-cup breasts, nipples erect from the chill of the 60 degrees fahrenheit air. Upon further inspection, I found I had two smaller pairs which were positioned like the muscles found across the navel. My entire front abdomen was covered in that same pale fur. The sensation of this touch sent signals to my brain which registered it as curious and enticing, but I refused to indulge in it.
As my handpaws stroked my new thighs, I found I no longer had the parts to be called male anymore. The vulva that it groped was mine, my testes absent from existence. I turned around and looked over my shoulder, finding that my posterior was refined and alluring by male standards, though I lacked any tail, to my surprise. But as I felt my new, pointed ears, it became clearer and clearer where I had seen this before, I suddenly knew who I was now and what I had become. I was a female worgen; more precisely, I was Raine Cloud, the Master Thief.
In all my years of writing furry literature and indulging others and myself in the fetish of transformation, I never thought that something like this could ever happen to me. But how on earth did this phenomenon happen? Radiation, a wish on a star, or any possible trope? Did leveling myself to 85 end with myself entering the Twilight Zone? Or was there perhaps no explanation to this transformation, like many of the greatest and oldest of transformation works?
The only thing I could recall that explained it was a promotion to the idea by someone on . It was very popular and spawned many responses to the thread, making it a hot topic overnight. I recall posting my own ideas about what I should do if it had happened to me. What if those who had been part of that thread were also affected. What if Richard…?
Padding my way quietly back into my room, I picked up my phone and dialed his mother's phone number. Surely, at this hour, Richard was still awake and would be able to use it. I sniffed around the room nervously, trying to detect the scents of anyone inside the room. The phone, to my fortune answered.
"Hello, this is Erna." It inquired.
"Erna?" I said, startled by my guttural, female voice. It even had the cockney accent I'd given Raine! As I quickly expected, Erna did not recognize me.
"Hello? This is Wrath's phone, isn't it? Who is this I'm talking to?"
My eyes darted quickly, trying to think of a good lie to speak to her. "Found Wrath's phone on acc'dent, I did. I'll be givin it t'im short-like. 'E asked me t' call Richard'n see if he's tip-top. E's waken all, right?"
"That's fine. I'll go get him, but," Erna paused. "To whom am I speaking to then?"
May as well tell her the truth, I suppose. "Th' name's Raine, Miss."
"All right, Raine, I'll go get him." There was a long pause as I waited in anticipation to what was going on. Finally someone handled the phone clumsily before a feminine voice, echoing like something out of a synthesizer spoke to me in an equally feminine voice. "Hello, who is this?"
Somehow the voice came to me as if I knew it from somewhere. I had to be sure. "Oi! Oo's dis den, eh? You some new bint fer Thorn, eh?"
There was a pause. "Wrath? Is that you?"
No, it couldn't be true. I said with a wavering voice. "Thorn?"
"Yeah, it's me. Is this Wrath?"
"Aye. Thorn, what's 'appened? Still sick or somethin?"
"Look, um…I think we better talk somewhere. Could you meet me at that public park where we studied physics?"
Looking like this? I amused him for a moment. "How d'you s'pose I do dat den, eh?"
"Use your flying mount. Look I gotta go. I'll meet you there shortly." The phone clicked off, leaving me alone once more with my thoughts. I had nothing on me that would fit me. Not that I was still fat anymore, but I was still much bigger than I was as a human. What could I possibly have on that fit me?
One thing was for certain. I had the smell of a dog fresh out of the yard. It was a little bothersome for me, even though I found the scent quite normal. With others in mind however, I took my only clean towel and padded my way into the shower. If what was happening to me was a dream, then it was the most lucid one that I've had in years.
8
